4 Hero Presents: Extensions

4 hero have invited a hand picked selection of European artists/producers that you would associate with the Nu Jazz genre to cover some of their music for this Extensions LP. This is hardly a remix album but a personal collection of beautifully crafted compositions, arrangements and orchestrations. The highlights are the reinterpretations from Robert Mitchell Trio, Sonar Kollektiv Orchester and Vince Vella’s Cuban Collective. An album not just for 4 Hero fans, but also lovers of contemporary jazz. Brilliant!!

Gary Pacific Orchestra – Soft Wind 45

German reissue label Sonorama digs even deeper to release this psychedelic funk nugget. The 3 library tracks on this 45 were originally pressed up by the chemical company BASF  in the 70’s for advertising purposes. The Gary Pacific Orchestra bring the heavy psych funk, soul breaks and deep flute lines on this rare groove 7″.

PBW – 45 Live Box Set

PBW has dropped this brilliant 10 x 7″ box set of classic 80’s hip hop joints. Apparently some of the tracks were never available before on 7″ (due to their length) so PBW has edited them especially for the project. The slices come in a super duty tuff biscuit tin with a free sticker and label artwork that is identical to the original releases. 5 Day Weekend have not cut any corners in making this dream come true for lovers of old school hip hop.

“This project is such a great honor for me to be involved with. This is one of the crowning moments of my music career, seriously. As a kid growing up in San Jose, CA when all this stuff was coming out, I was hooked and half a lifetime later I still am. I can only imagine what these songs sound like to a teenager today hearing them for the first time, just as they probably wonder what it was like for someone like me to have heard them for the first time back when it was all happening. I’ve also always wondered what it was like to grow up in one of the five boroughs in Hip Hop’s infancy in the 80s. These songs were the closest I got to knowing.” — Peanut Butter Wolf

Lucien’s Luck – You Should Know!

“Trust in us, and thus you trust in your life. Lucien, Lucien, Lucien, Lucien. You should know! ” ….  Killer Funk are back with their 8th cheeky release with a brass heavy redit of Billy Brooks’ Forty Days – essential.

RF – Thnx 4 Dilla! / Love Theme

There isn’t much info to be found on the Japanese new jazz collective RF. On this their debut release is their own interpretation of  Stan Getz’s Saudade Vem Correndo on the a side. The flip has a cover of Yusef Lateef’s Love Theme From Spartacus. Only 300 of these smooth 7″s have been presssed so you better start runnin’ to your local vinyl spot asap.

Atom – Night Flight

 

I first heard Atom’s music when Intalex played Dolly on his Soulution Radio show a year or 2 ago. Since then the hobby producer has finished a few more tunes and finally made his well deserved debut on wax with this 12″. Nightflight  raised the hairs on my head when I 1st heard it. It is a stripped down minimal groover which is warm and somehow reminds me of the music Omni Trio were making about 10 years ago.  The flip is also a deep, techy &  minimal number with plenty of soul………

Remember the Record Shop?

Magnum looks back at the days when listening to music was a physical experience. Head over to their site to check out more beautiful shots  from this collection.

Live @ The Get Back – Volume 6

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The Get Back is one of the premier funky soul dance parties in the states, it goes down on the 1st friday of each month in Las Vegas @ the Beauty Bar.  Recently it turned 7 & in celebration they gave out Volume 6 of their wonderful deep funk mix CD series. Each mini mix on the CD was recorded live in the last year with selectors John Doe, Phoreyz, Danny Boy plus guests Renato & Meaty Ogre all laying down the heat. These cats are serious collectors of anything funky and take pride in rolling out their Get Back sounds.  Live funk mixes don’t get much better than this…..

Lenzman & Redeyes – Integral 014

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Lenzman’s 2nd outing on Intergral is as dope as the 1st, though this time round he teamed up with Redeyes. On the B side is a Pete Rock (It’s On You) inspired piece, a lovely Ahmad Jamal piano sample over some crisp beats that they called Thieves Of The Night. The flip is a touch more rolling but also contains uplifting jazzy flavours and a catchy male vocal. This is perhaps Lenzman’s finest releases to date and I must admit that I like these 2 tunes better than 95% of his other released/unreleased things. As for Redeyes, he has been very quiet the last 18 months on the release front, but when he is on the soulful tip he is usually vibing and reliable……….

Dela – KingUnderground Podcast

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Before I get back into more vinyl/cd  recommendations/reviews, I thought I’d mention this one as I saw the little advert in the newest edition of Wax Poetics. Dela drops a short but sweet podcast for KingUnderground.com with music from Q-Tip, Large Pro, Blackstar, Common & SV amongst others….